Today, starting a business is not that simple. There are tens of thousands of startups similar to yours, targeting the same customers and using similar marketing techniques. Logically, you consider them your major rivals and build plans on how to compete with them.
But, what young and small businesses usually forget is that their customers are looking for reliability. To make sure they’ve made the right buying decision, they usually opt for well-established brands and products they’ve already heard about.
So, to reach out to your potential customers, hook their attention and stay competitive, you need to have a strong business strategy that will help you rise above both small and big businesses in your niche. And, that’s where technology steps in.
Market your Business like a Pro
In the past, to promote your business, you had to invest thousands of dollars in your marketing plan. But, the times have changed and, doing marketing has never been more affordable.
Even though big businesses still rely on traditional means of marketing, like billboards, TV or radio ads, without digital marketing, it wouldn’t make any sense. It helps you boost your business’ visibility, reach out to your target audience, and offer a highly personalized approach.
And, with the rise of this industry, numerous digital marketing tools have been born. This means that you can automate most of your tasks and help your team focus on creative aspects of your marketing strategy.
Most importantly, with tools like Kissmetrics, HubSpot, Google Analytics, or Google Search Console, everything you do, from social media marketing to content marketing, can be tracked and measured. You can even centralize all your important tools and metrics under one umbrella using reporting tools. Namely, these tools allow you to create a custom digital marketing dashboard and combine the widgets from multiple tools to track the right KPIs from one place.
Exceptional Customer Services
Studies claim that 86% of customers would pay more for effective customer support. Simply put, customer relationship management has become one of the most prominent game-changers and, to stay relevant, you need to invest in it heavily.
To get the most of it, you need to take advantage of social media marketing. For example, startups need to use social media monitoring tools to track brand mentions on social networks. Using them, you can learn what people think about your brand and products, participate in their discussions, and give real-time feedback.
You could also integrate AI-powered chatbots to handle your target audience’s repetitive questions. This way, you will be available 24/7 and, in return, boost customer retention, loyalty, and conversions.
You can invest in the right CRM software, such as Pipedrive, HubSpot CRM, Agile CRM, Zoho CRM, Insightly, etc. Even though these tools were traditionally used by larger organizations, they’re now available to startups, too. They will help you automate a wide range of your customer relationship processes, from collecting customer data and boosting customer interaction to tracking your leads and automating your sales.
Boosting Customer Loyalty
For years, we’ve been reading about big brands like Amazon, Starbucks or Sephora and their awesome loyalty programs. So, why are these programs so popular? Apart from helping customers save money and get exclusive products and deals, they also show them how valuable they are to your brand. Given these facts, it’s not that surprising that an average American employee participates in 30 loyalty programs.
With the rise of social networks, boosting your customers’ loyalty this way has become vital to startups. Types rewards vary, from huge discounts to free exclusive products you give to your loyal customers for signing up with your email list, completing purchases, or making referrals. Whichever technique you choose, just make sure you create a rewards program that makes sense for your employees.
Hiring Experts from all across the Globe
When launching a company, you need to make some serious investments, from hiring the right employees and buying equipment to choosing the right office.
But, have you ever considered outsourcing your projects instead of hiring an in-house team? In today’s hyperconnected era, you don’t have to hire people based on their location. On the contrary, startups can use numerous freelancing sites and social networks like LinkedIn to find remote employees that may be the right fit for your company.
With the rise of IM, video conferencing, and project management tools, your communication won’t suffer. These cloud-based platforms allow an uninterrupted flow of data and real-time communication, irrespective of your employees’ location and time zone.
So, instead of building a 50+ team of people from the very beginning, you can simply start by surrounding yourself with only those employees that are vital to your startup. And, as your company grows, you can expand your team gradually. This approach will help you minimize your expenses and save up to $11.000 annually.
Managing Projects has never been Simpler
Did you know that emails are your employees’ major time wasters? According to the Carleton University, employees spend about 11.7 hours at the office and 5.3 hours at home checking and answering their emails.
To avoid that, you need to boost your workflow management and this is exactly where project management tools come to shine. With software like Slack, Basecamp, Asana, and Trello, your employees can share and download files instantly, as well as brainstorm ideas and solve problems in real-time. These tools allow you to create multiple projects, make lists within these projects, and individual tasks inside these lists. Most importantly, you can track the changes within your projects and monitor the performance of your employees effectively.
Back to You
The rise of technology has made the business ecosystem more challenging, and yet friendly to young companies. It helps you bring value to your customers, reach out to them more effectively, and build a stronger relationship with them. And, keeping pace with the latest tech trends and integrating them into your business plan is the only way to stand shoulder to shoulder with the major brands in your niche.
